Grade 1 Science
Core Unit: Earth

Unit overview:

In this unit, the focus is on the earth's surface: its features, the soil, and the air and water which blanket the surface. The concept of the spherical earth is also introduced.

Related units:

The Optional Unit in grade 1 The Sky may be integrated with this unit to produce a more comprehensive look at the Earth. The topics in that unit are an extension of those introduced in this unit, as is the grade 2 Optional Unit Air and Water.

Units which can be considered as sequels to this are the grade 2 Optional Unit Oceansand the grade 5 Optional Unit Oceans, the grade 3 Core Units on The Solar System and Earth, and the grade 4 Core Unit Fossils and Rocks.

Suggested themes:

Earth, environment, homes, landforms, rocks, soil

Factors of scientific literacy which should be emphasized:

Common Essential Learnings foundational objectives which should be emphasized:

To support the development of a positive disposition to life-long learning. (IL)

To promote both intuitive and imaginative thought and the ability to evaluate ideas, processes, experiences and objects in meaningful contexts. (CCT)

Science foundational and learning objectives:

Describe the features of the Earth's surface.
1. Identify the Earth as a sphere in space.
2. Recognize the globe as a model of the Earth.
3. Compare landforms such as mountains, plains, and deserts.
4. Use a globe and maps to locate major features of the Earth.
Describe rocks and soil.
1. Observe different types of rocks.
2. Compare and classify rocks.
3. Observe different types of soil.
4. Describe soil by texture and colour.
Discuss the characteristics and uses of air and water.
1. Infer that air takes up space.
2. Infer that air moves by observing things affected by it.
3. Understand that air and water are essential for plants and animals.
4. Discuss the effects of wind and water on our environment.
5. Explain how the wind and water can be useful.
6. Observe and describe the effects of air or water pollution.

Suggested Activities:

Have a globe, or globes in the classroom for students to examine, manipulate, and become familiar with. Mark the approximate location of your locale on the globe. If any class members have family members who live outside the province, the locations where they live could be marked on the globe. Globes which show the mountains in relief and show colour variations for deserts, grasslands, and forests are preferred.
This activity promotes an understanding of the spatial relationships of the continents and of the major physical features on the continents.
Factors: C1, F1, G1
Objectives: 1.2, 1.4
Assessment Techniques: 3, 8
NASA produces pictures of the earth viewed from space. These are useful for display. National Geographic magazine is a good source of these pictures. Aerial maps from satellite images for your locale are available from the Saskatchewan Property Management Corporation. The Prince Albert Satellite Station also has remote sensing images available, and offers tours of that facility.
A picture is worth a thousand words when trying to convey the concept of the spherical Earth.
Factors: C1, C2, F1, G1
Objectives: 1.1, 1.4
Assessment Techniques: 2, 4, 5, 6, 7c, 8, 9
Go into the school yard, or somewhat further afield, to collect as many different types of pebbles as possible. Some of the parents of the students or some of the other teachers in the school may have interesting rock specimens which they might lend for observation. Rock samples from Saskatchewan Energy and Mines are available free of charge.
A class discussion on the uses of rocks would be useful. The students could list uses for rocks, and list places where those uses can be seen. The uses that Indians made and make of rocks could be part of this discussion. These uses include the use of flint for arrowheads and fire making, pipestone, sweat lodge stones, teepee rings, healing stones, and pounding pemmican.
The students could describe and classify the rock samples. Make a class list of all the words that can be used to describe the pebbles. Remind them to try to use all their senses in creating these descriptions. Small plastic hand lenses are useful for this activity. Some pebbles look different when they are wet, so have a pan of water available for each group. Also have a nail or a penny for scratch tests to determine the hardness of the pebble. Wrap a large pebble in a towel and hit it with a hammer to break it. Provide each group with one broken pebble to examine. Groups could also compare how different types of rocks break.
Rocks can be polished in a rock tumbler. Compare the rocks which have been tumbled to those which have not. Can stones be found which are similar in shape to those which have been tumble polished? How might they have been formed? Inquire if there is a lapidarist in the community who might come in and talk to the students about finding, cutting, and polishing pebbles or boulders. Some students may have jewellery or objects made from polished rock which they could bring to school for show and tell.
Note on terminology: Rock refers to bedrock or to the types of bedrock: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. Pieces of bedrock are referred to as boulders or pebbles, the difference being one of size. A collection of pebbles or boulders is referred to as gravel.
Factors: B1, B2, C1, C2, C3, E1, E3, F1, G1
Objectives: 2.1, 2.2
Assessment Techniques: 1, 3, 4, 5, 9
Common Essential Learnings: Independent Learning, Critical and Creative Thinking. This activity introduces the students to a topic which they can continue to pursue outside the class. There are few places on Earth without pebbles or rock to examine. It gives them an opportunity to compare and to classify things from their environment.
Collect some samples of soil. Make sure that you have some variety in your collection. Students might bring samples from various locations. If they do so, ask them to make sure that they can describe where the sample was obtained. The students can analyze the soil, separating components, and comparing similarities and differences. Small plastic hand lenses are useful in this activity. How many living things can be found in each sample? What type of plants were growing in the location where the soil was collected? What might cause the differences in soil composition?
Factors: C1, C3, E1, E2, E3, F2, G1
Objectives: 2.1, 2.3, 2.4
Assessment Techniques: 1, 3, 4, 5, 7c, 8
Common Essential Learnings: Critical and Creative Thinking. Soil is an easily obtainable resource, one that the students walk on every day, which is a complex system in its own right. The activity gives students an opportunity to use all their senses except taste to produce a description of their sample. Creativity in devising testing techniques applied to the soil, should be encouraged.
Invite someone to talk to the students about a technology or an activity which involves the wind: windmills, wind chimes, kites, wind surfing boards, sail boats, etc. The students could assemble wind chimes or a kite. Inexpensive chime kits may also be purchased at many variety stores. Kites are most easily assembled from commercial kits. However, both chimes and kites can be made by students from easily obtained materials. The students could practice their measurement skills and design their own decorations if they make their own.
Both wind chime and kite construction would be good activities to involve parents, grandparents, or other adults with the students.
One design for wind chimes uses a one metre length of 12 mm inside diameter (half inch) copper water pipe, a 25 mm to 50 mm steel washer or disc, some heavy nylon fish line (20 pound test), and some plywood. Plywood approximately 2 cm to 3 cm thick is best.
From the plywood cut a disc which is about 5 mm less in diameter than the steel washer. Glue the washer to the disc so that it protrudes evenly around the edge of the disc. Locate the centre of the disc and drill three holes evenly spaced around the centre. These holes will be used to thread through the fish line in order to suspend the disc in the middle of the chimes.
Cut another disc, about double the diameter of the first, from the plywood. Find the centre of that disc and drill a hole to suspend the smaller disc. Measure from that centre hole a distance 15 mm greater than the radius of the small disc and drill a hole to suspend one of the pieces of pipe. Drill two more holes the same distance from the centre 120 degrees from each other and from the first.
Cut the copper pipe into three different lengths. Drill two small holes through the top of each length of pipe. Thread the fish line through the holes and up through outer holes on the large disc. Leave about 15 cm between the top of the pipe and the disc. Repeat this procedure for the other pipes.
Suspend the small disc in the centre of the grouping of pipes about halfway down the length of the shortest pipe. The chimes are now assembled. Drill two holes near the edge on opposite sides of the large disc. Use these holes to hang the chimes.
Wind chimes have an aesthetic use. Can the students identify some other uses?
Factors: B2, C2, E2, F1, G1
Objectives: 3.1, 3.4, 3.5
Assessment Techniques: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7c, 8, 9
Common Essential Learnings: Technological Literacy. By discussing devices which make use of the force of the wind, the students' awareness of energy conversion can be raised. Here the motion energy of the wind is converted to sound energy.
Find or develop some activities to demonstrate that air occupies space. For example:
Place the open end of an inflated plastic bag over the mouth of a jar and tape it so that the bag seals the jar. Use bags of thick plastic, such as freezer bags, or the bags in which some newspapers are delivered. Clear cellophane packing tape (5 cm width) works well. Then try to stuff the bag into the jar without breaking the seal. What would be a use for this phenomenon? (Hints: When do you want something that is filled with air, and sealed, to support some weight?) Reverse the process so that the bag is placed in the jar as a liner. The edges of the bag should be folded over the lip of the jar and then taped to the jar so that they form a seal. Try to pull the bag out of the jar without ripping the bag or breaking the seal. Is there an application for this phenomenon?
Place a clear glass upside down in a pan containing 5 cm to 8 cm of water. The students will observe that the level of water under the glass is lower than in the pan. Using a bendable straw, insert the straw so that one end is in the air space at the top of the glass and the other end is somewhere in the air above the pan. (The straw may have to be extended by splicing extra lengths of straw to it so it is an appropriate length for this task.) Slowly suck some air from the glass and observe what happens to the height of the water in the glass. Then slowly blow air into the glass. What happens to the height of the water in the glass? What is an application for this process? (Hint: This is the principle behind some types of pumps, and in refloating sunken objects.)
Factors: B2, C2, E3, F1, F2
Objectives: 3.1
Assessment Techniques: 3, 5, 7c, 8, 9
Common Essential Learnings: Communication. These activities both present phenomena which produce good discussion as students search for explanations, and stimulate some good brainstorming on the uses of the principles.

Grade 1 Science Core Unit: Earth